Chapter Four: Setting---Under Ravina
Boulevard, 9:35 p.m.
"Hello Cordelia." Faith said as the
demoness sprawled on the slick brick tiles
before her. Then, before Angelus could recover from the surprise attack,
she spun around and cracked him across the cheek with the heel of her
boot.

Angelus staggered backward a step and then smiled widely, his
vampiric visage rippling and melting from his
features as he looked her up and down.

"Faith. Good to see you. When did you get out?"
He said amiably, his eyes flicking back and forth between
Cordelia and Faith. The
demoness climbed to her feet, hand held to her cheek, eyes ablaze
with anger.

"Cut the shit, Angelus." Faith said, her
eyebrow quirking as she lifted a crossbow in his direction. His smile got
wider as he looked down the shaft of the wooden arrow. "You know why I'm
here?"

"And her." Faith motioned to
Cordelia with a flick of her head, her free
hand suddenly producing a second crossbow and pointing it directly at the
demoness before her.

"Angelus...." Cordelia warned,
her hazel eyes widening as the crossbow was leveled at her evenly.

"Don't worry Cordy. She's not going to kill
us."

"Justine put you up to this?" Cordelia piped
up, inching closer to the dark-haired Slayer, her lips pursed in thought.

"Fuck Justine. This is my fight."

"Oh really? You have some personal vendetta against the two of us?"
Cordelia said, the corners of her crimson
mouth curling up into a wicked grin.

"Yeah. I don't like bitches. Now wipe that
fucking smirk off your face, demon, or I'm
gonna rip it off and feed it to him." Faith
hissed, her finger squeezing down on the crossbow trigger and lifting the
bow a little higher.

"Oh no?" Faith said, her finger squeezing down
on the crossbow trigger. The first arrow launched itself across the room,
burying into Angelus's shoulder and dropping
him onto the bricks. Before the dark-haired demon could move, she shot the
second bow and watched as Cordelia stood
stock-still and flashed another smile in her direction.

For one moment the arrow continued its journey through the damp air before
it suddenly stopped, hovered in the air before it was suddenly caught in a
brilliant flash of light emitted from Cordelia's
skin. The wooden shaft flew apart, splinters catching in Faith's skin and
making her stumble backward.

Blinded by the harsh glare, Faith didn't see Angelus as he leapt on her,
his fist connecting solidly with her face and his teeth sinking into her
skin.

*****

Setting---Ravina
Boulevard 9:25 p.m.
"So, this is Ravina
Boulevard, but where the hell are we supposed to go?" Gunn piped up from
beside Wesley on the seat of the car. Wesley glanced over at his companion
and sighed, his bespectacled eyes roving the wide avenue for a moment.

"She mentioned numbers, didn't she? I'm sure she did..." He remarked, his
mind searching back through the spattering of nonsense the Seer had
babbled. It was getting harder and harder to understand what she was
saying these days.

"Leave it be, bro. We can't change what's happening to her so don't even
wish it." Gunn told him, interrupting his thoughts before he could linger
too long in the "should be's".

"Yeah." Wesley nodded and hopped out of the
car, his sword jammed into his fist and his head heavy with useless
thoughts. Gunn joined him as they walked quickly down the street.

Suddenly, Wesley stopped dead in his tracks and stared up at the building
before him. Gunn stopped beside him and peered up at the large yellow
sign.

"Under the eight...." Wesley muttered, his
eyebrows furrowed as he stared up at the Super 8 motel sign.

"Okay...so we have the place...now how do we get under it...."
Gunn said, jogging forward and surveying the perimeter with sharp eyes...

Wesley's brain went a mile a minute as he walked along behind Charles, his
thoughts echoing with Fred's haunting voice. "6 plus 7 is 13.....13 minus
6 is 7......"

He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the room numbers on the
open-faced motel facade. His eyes quickly spotted room number 13 on the
second floor, the second from the end. His gaze trailed below to room
number 7, on the very end of the row on the first floor. "Somewhere
between...."

"Wes?" Gunn called as the older man walked forward and stood in the spot
between rooms 6 and 7, his gaze quickly going upward to room 13 above him.

"It's here...help me find a way down...."
Wesley said, his hands hitting the stucco side of the building and
pressing firmly into the concrete below with his boots. Gunn followed suit
and trailed his fingers over the wall. After a few minutes of searching
desperately, his flat fingers suddenly found a tiny crease in the wall and
he tugged as hard as he could.

A door swung open and Wesley looked down into a dark crack in the
building. It was pitch black and narrow and seemed to lead downward.

"Uh....you first."

Gunn snorted and motioned him forward. Wesley went, grumbling as he
entered the tiny door and wondering what he'd find at the end of that long
tunnel.

He had a feeling he wouldn't like it.

*****

Setting---Under Ravina Boulevard 9:40 pm

Little red sparks of light danced across Faith's vision as Angelus sunk
his teeth into her throat, tearing and ripping, sucking greedily.

"Mother fucker..." She grunted, twisting in his grip, his jagged fangs
tearing an even deeper wound in her throat. A fist followed her twist and
Angelus was caught in the eye; he stumbled, sprawled against the curved
sewer wall.

Blood flowed freely down her neck, trickling between her breasts and
turning her blue shirt a dark maroon. Fuck, this was bad. Blinking the
pain away, she whirled, eyeing Cordelia,
wondering why the demon wasn't attacking her yet.

She had her arms crossed over her chest, lips curled appraisingly. "What?"
Faith snapped, unsure of this new animal. The Queen C she knew was vastly
different from the cruel, unaffected creature before her. There was
something primal beneath the cool facade, beneath the smile that rubbed at
all of Faith's edges, making her want to arch her back and hiss like a
cat.

What had happened to change her so much? Sure,
Cordelia had always been a bitch...but this...

"Just thinking about how much you've changed."
Cordelia replied, the smile still superior, knowing.

"Same goes for you. When did you lose your soul? The
visions? Angel?" Faith spat, eyeing Angelus, who had leaned up from
his sprawl against the wall, rubbing at his stubborn chin with a bloody
hand. Black blood. Faith noticed it for the
first time. Who had they killed and why?

Swiveling back to Cordelia, she saw the demon
visibly wince. Sore spot? She didn't have time
to ponder the moment because it was gone in a second, the cool mask back
in place. "What about you? When did you join the good fight? And here I
thought you were a bad girl, Faith."

"What do you know about me?"

"More than you'd guess, Faith. I know about that darkness in you; the one
you're trying to fight. I could help you with it....purge it out....or
make it scream and you along with it." As she spoke
Cordelia's eyes blazed white, her fingertips lighting slightly.

Faith felt a tremble go through her. What did
Cordelia mean? Make it scream? Could she do that?

Faith didn't know, but the urge to touch the demon was growing and she
fought against her rebelling muscles, fighting the steps that were
bringing her closer and closer to the demon.

From far away, she heard Angelus chuckle and she made no move to look at
him, to guess his location and strike out. All she wanted was to accept
whatever Cordelia had for her. Darkness or
light...she didn't care. Either one was better than the war she was
fighting within herself.

Just as she reached out a hand to touch the light-shrouded fingertips
before her, something large and heavy slammed into her, knocking her onto
the floor.

The wound on her neck ripped more, sending her spiraling away in a
bruising agony of pain. As darkness crept up on her, she stared into a
familiar pair of eyes and sank into the blue depths, welcoming the bliss
they brought.